Author Topic: Help! Difficult office manager!  (Read 3816 times)

Michele

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Help! Difficult office manager!
« on: September 13, 2012, 11:36:38 AM »
OK, so usually we are the ones doing the helping but now we need your input. 

Linda is always saying and I COMPLETELY agree....."Don't go around the office manager....."  and I add to the end "It will come back to bite you!"

Ok so here's our dilemma:  We bill for a dr who has two separate offices.  (Separate EIN's, NPI's, etc.)  The one office is great.  The office manager is awesome and works great with us.  The other office, the dr bought out a dr who is preparing to retire.  He maintained the complete office staff when he bought him out.  The woman in that office (Doesn't have the title 'office manager' but acts in that role) worked for the retiring dr for 20+ years.  They did the billing inhouse (and did a terrible job I might add... ;D)  I've had personal experience with their billing prior to this dr buying them out.  It was bad.  He (the new dr) is a very smart business man in addition to being a great dr and nice person.  He knew he was not going to keep it in house and brought us in during the buyout process to make sure all things were handled correctly.  We've been doing his other office and he's thrilled.

So on to the problem....she is a terrible bookkeeper and she is completely against his outsourcing.  She acts nice to our face but we know where she stands.  And she does everything possible to make our lives miserable.  She doesn't give us all eobs, doesn't give 2ndary info, doesn't respond to our requests for information, doesn't provide reports unless begged, etc.  Recently he noticed his aging (from their computer) is bad so he told her to work it.  (first time she's touched it in 20 months!)  We have worked both their report and ours but she doesn't follow thru on anything we tell her so it's not good.  So I just spent MANY hours going thru their report, our report, his computer etc and have a 3 page list of the issues. 

Question -  Do I go to him and try to explain that his office manager is sabotaging our efforts to bill effectively to show him he shouldn't outsource?  That to me is going around the office manager.  I don't want to lose either office.  (She already cost of a 3rd, 4th, and 5th office.  He had referred us to the other drs in his group who have separate offices that she also works in.  After meeting with them and them being excited about starting, they suddenly decided to keep it in house!  Huh???) 

SUGGESTIONS  PLEASE!!!
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ruthie72

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 12:45:45 PM »
I would absolutely make him aware..it is his business after all.

DMK

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2012, 01:54:50 PM »
JMHO, but, you must go to the Doctor!  And this is FROM an office manager.  We have a good friend, who is also in the same line of work, and his office manager is costing him at least $1000 per day in incorrectly billed services.  He has trusted her for years so it hasn't been easy to give him input.  She is VERY old school and is resistant to changing what she "knows" is the best way to do her job (it's her way, or it's wrong).  She has actually put him on the hot seat with Medicare for UNDERCODING.

I finally had to come at it from a "kind" direction and acknowledge her years of experience and her loyalty.  But, I explained, things have really changed, a lot, in the last few years.  I showed him how, just by billing what he was doing, I could increase his DAILY income by at least $1000.  It wasn't anything dubious, illegal, immoral, or unethical.  It was billing CORRECTLY for services he WAS performing so that he got paid for his work.  I impressed upon him that HE's the boss, and HE deserves every penny he's earned.  If SHE can't/won't/refuses to bill appropriately, it's putting him in a very dangerous position with ALL the insurance companies.  It has all boiled down to her REFUSING to change what she's always done.  And while I understand how hard it is to learn new things sometimes, it's getting to the point where he's going to be in trouble unless he gets it all up to date.

I'm sorry that you have to go in belly up, but it's really sad when LOYALTY costs so much money!  Personally, if the office manager is from the previous practice, and there's no contract stating that he has to keep her, he may need to lay down the law regarding her job and what her duties and functions are.  If they included working with outside billing, then SHE's the one who needs to go along and get along.

PMRNC

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2012, 02:38:51 PM »
I think we've all had to deal with the problem office manager, in my experience it's been the doctors wives who I just can't seem to work with, the only thing they manage to get right are the daily deposits.. go figure.  :o :o

Anyway.. Yes you need to go to the doctor. BEFORE doing so I would sit down with a note book and make notes on everything. Something you might want to do in future with all clients is what I've done since day one. I have a note section setup in my ACT software.. I use it to document EVERYTHING.. right down to the office manger being a you-know-what  I document the day, the time. Call it a diary of sorts. When I am consistently having a problem with a client I can refer back to these notes and reference them to the doctor if I need to.   I would also pull reports as detailed as possible. You will need to be very specific on where she is going wrong. Although her attitude can be a headache, it's not necessarily something you can go to the doctor about, HOWEVER if she's losing the practice money, he needs to know AND see it. I'm not saying you need to prove it to him, but let's assume he does want to get rid of her, he has to show cause and the more you have documented the better for him. I would approach him and tell him you need to have a sit down with him and that it is imperative.   JMHO
Linda Walker
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DMK

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2012, 04:01:15 PM »
Careful, I'm the doctor's wife!   :P  At the office, though, I'm the schlub that makes sure everything gets done. I want to know all the ways to gets everything he's supposed to get, and I did that for the other doctor I used to work for as well.  It's a professional thing, not a personal one!  If I ever need to get a job working for someone else, I would be that loyal to that doctor as well.  Legal, moral, ethical, no problems!

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #4 on: September 13, 2012, 04:01:15 PM »

PMRNC

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #5 on: September 13, 2012, 09:01:50 PM »
I am SURE you are the exception dear DMK :)  ;) ;) ;D  I've only dealt with the ones that were office managers at the end of the day when time to collect the deposits. LOL  A good friend of mine is an office manager for her husband's dental practice and they outsource and she gives them a terrible time.. but she knows it too. LOL
Linda Walker
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DMK

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2012, 01:12:08 PM »
(Sorry for the earlier typos, I'm horrified when I do that)

I totally understand!  The wife of the other doctor I worked with only cam around to do the deposits too!  Unless she was getting her nails done, then she'd ask me to do it.   Ooooooh, that sounds pretty snarky.  Yep, I was being snarky.

Michele

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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2012, 01:49:06 PM »
I have had drs wives from each end of the spectrum....some very very nice and truly looking out for their husband's best interest....others not so nice and not so intelligent.  I also deal with a drs husband but he's great.   ;)

Thanks for all the input.  I've known we have to go to him but just needed confirmation.  I hate to go around anyone, but she leaves us no choice.  Thanks for the tips though, I think I'll get the documentation in better order first!
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Re: Help! Difficult office manager!
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2012, 01:49:06 PM »